fras1

Hi Kyle ,good luck with your cbt , --will be interested to know what you think of the Ys 125,as it's the replacement for the YBR 125. For the Ys125 ,Yamaha say they have 'combined' the front and rear brakes ,but I have no idea what they mean by this. People on here will be interested to know how the brakes perform. (and what combined means)

H i Cynic & Slice et al, (and James of course) I am back after a short absence including a rain- sodden bike rally in my native Scotland. I hope my (beer-influenced) entry on removing points hasn't influenced young James 's attempts to fix his bike. There really was quite a difference between the engineering of Brit cars & Jap bikes in the 70's - I should have taken account of that. (J.I.S screwdrivers ,anyone?) But---- --James _ was it the contact breaker ? Have you got the bike running? Do keep everyone up to date, I'd like to know if/how you have fixed it ,I'm sure everyone else here would like to know too.

Fair enough,guys,I have to confess I'm not familiar with this particular bike,I was equating removing the points from most older style cars, which was quite easy - I once had a knackerd old Ford Escort van which had 'em and they came out no bother, -could sand them down to get rid of the pitting and put them back in,all in quite a short time. This not the start of a thread on knackered old vans......

That's a very kind offer,thanks Slice,but we're a long way from Gloucester. What I have done is draft a letter for the kid to present to the manager of Arse Lit motorcycles, copying to Trading Standards and seeing how they react. For the manager to provide, in writing, a detailed breakdown ,job by job,check by check outlining exactly what 'diagnostic checks' were done,and how long each one took. But it's up the kid whether or not he wants to take it further. Let's hope he does .I hate to see this sort of thing. cheers

Hi all,since I've got insomnia and I was going to post this anyway --you do NOT need to remove the carbs from an XV535 Virago in order to overhaul them. The carbs have been designed so that you can get the jets out from the rhs and the diaphragms on the lhs without having to take the carbs off the bike. I have overhauled the carbs on an XV535 and can vouch for this. You will need a torx drive for the diaphragm side ,but that's it. If you are in disbelief ,take a closer look at the bike or take it to an honest mechanic.

The points (or contact breakers) on bikes and cars of this age were designed to be removed easily and quickly as part of routine maintenance. So the contact breaker for your bike will be routine to remove. (They were the fore-runners of CDI units) They were also designed to be easy to set to the correct gap, there will be something on the net I'm sure which will give you the correct gap and how to adjust it for your bike. The contact breaker might only need its faces sanding down and the gap re-set in order for the engine to run. --- You might be able to fix this whole thing with just some sand paper. Lots for you to learn on U-tube.......... let us know how you get on with this, I'm sure other guys on here will also be able to give further advice ...

Hi, thanks for response --- ,my 250 is the Dragstar not the Virago. Several guys in the bike club have suggested I get an angle-grinder to remove the word 'Dragstar' from the bike,but so far I have not been the victim of any homophobic attack. Would be interesting to see the changes you've made to your bike, - I have been scouring the internet for mag wheels for this bike so that I can fit tubeless tires.(I hate inner tubed tyres - try changing one on an XV535,it's miserable ) Have kept the Dragstar stock ,no custom stuff done, so it just looks like any other, altho' I do service and maintain all my bikes, so it's very shiny .Like my teeth after I've been drinking Brasso. (Cheaper than Stella per cc) If anyone wants a pic I will try and post one ,but the bike just looks like a well-polished stock bike. There's nothing to see here.......

Every year ,sadly, we see garlands of flowers placed at exactly the same spots on the roads of Wester Ross where I live (and motorcycle.)No-one ever learns. Always the same places, Slattadale at Loch Maree, the hairpins between Poolewe and Aultbea, Dundonnell and the Ullapool/Inverness road. It is not clever and it is not cool to speed on a bike ,no matter how smart you think you are. Last weekend I set off with friends from home to Ullapool , 4 of us, doing the legal 60. Before Braemore Junction we were overtaken by leather-clad twats doing in excess of 100 mph on the wrong side of the road ; ,if a similar bunch of leather -clad twats had been doing the same thing from the opposite direction we would all have been wiped out. If you are in that mindset,then fuckin' grow up. Assuming you are actually able to read this. Duh.

OK AJ ,and all the best, but you missed my point. - More speed needs more power, not more gearing. You will not get more speed by changing the gearing. What you will get is a lower-revving engine providing the same top speed.Or a higher-revving engine that can climb hills better (but slower) You can't get more energy by changing the gearing ,all you are doing is changing the leverage of the engine. My advice remains the same - want more performance: get a more powerful engine. (and stay away from Dremels .No good ever came of using a Dremel .My teeth have never been the same since.)

Guys /gals ,just had to get this off my chest : Certain Scottish motorcycle dealer's appalling behaviour. Now, I'm new to this forum and I'm well-versed in the ways of libel law-suits,but here goes Friend of the neighbours' son took his XVS250 Dragstar to a certain Scottish dealer .Symptoms:bike starts and runs ok until throttle opened up,then starts 'bogging'. (Obviously it's a coil failing,but to continue.....) Remember,this is a young lad who knows nowt about bikes. Dealer asks him 'How much are you willing to spend on us doing diagnostic checks?' ' Well,I've got about £200' The bill came to (surprise,surprise £195 ) - for 'diagnostic checks' - after which the dealer said they could not find the fault. So,a charge of £195 to say they couldn't diagnose the problem. In the old days they wouldn't get a penny for that. But,labour charges,eh? Well,let's look at them then. Or rather,what they should be....... This bike has a simple, single carb with a split manifold. Carb drain screw reached easily with a screwdriver. ie time taken to drain float bowl - less than 1 minute. Simple wiring harness which is easily traced back from ignition to battery - easy to check for cuts/breaks etc / and easy to check for spark. Allow 15 mins to check for spark,and that's being generous. If they know their stuff,they now check for resistance in primary and secondary coil windings.(Tank has to come off for this,so maybe 20 mins labour) So that,to me,comes to less than one hours' labour to properly diagnose the fault, please correct me if I'm wrong. So this bunch of crooks charged the poor wee guy £190 for a job that (done properly,let's remember it wasn't) should have cost less than one hour's labour.And still didn't fix it. As I am not able to disclose the name of this crooked outfit, I can only give you an anagram which is Arse Lit motorcycles. And a fitting anagram at that. Don't go there. If you come up from England to do the NC 500 stay away from these guys,lots of other garages available. '

Hi AJ just a quick word of advice - you can change the gearing by changing the sprockets , but not the power output of the engine .And that's what matters if you want more poke. You won't gain much advantage by changing the gearing, perhaps a few more mpg if you are sitting at a steady 35 .You won't get a much higher top speed (F=ma) unless you put in some more power,which means a bigger engine. And please don't take a Dremel to it. Unless you like walking home. ( Myself and a pal took 2 identical 125 cc bikes to the Hebrides, one with stock gearing ,the other modified. There was no difference in the performance of the bikes,and hardly any in the fuel consumption. Moral - want more power? Get a bigger bike. ...and don't tamper.) (this was not meant to sound condescending ,I just hate to see people wasting money and potentially knackering their bikes)

No problem, also I have noticed that your bike uses a contact breaker in the ignition circuit,- (us old guys used to call them points) -these are mechanically operated and wear out. You should check this too,I am willing to bet it's either a worn out contact breaker or a burnt out secondary winding in the coil, and the more I think about it,the more I think it's the contact breaker. If it's been the same contact breaker since the days of your grandpaw I'll be surprised if it's still functioning properly. But check the coil as well as the contact breaker.(Which I think you will find will be horribly pitted). Plenty on U tube about contact breakers too. best of luck

Cristian, you'd probably save yourself a lot of time ,grief and money by just trading up and getting yourself an XVS250. I have one of these,and they are very good bikes. Don't know if you're in the US or the UK, but if you're in the US the bikes were available, I believe, with mag wheels which means you can run on tubeless . Still easy to get parts (in the UK anyway) - I just bought a new set of coils for mine. good luck whatever you decide

Hello all from the frozen North of Scotland ;finally managed to get registered on this site.(I hate computers). I've had lots of trials & tribulations with an XV535 Virago and a Ybr 125 Custom but have been unable to share them until now. Hope to post a few bits & bobs shortly.

Check the ignition coil. The problem sounds electrical rather than fuel related. A duff coil will give you enough spark to start the engine,but not enough to keep up with higher revs.People often think the problems caused by duff coils are being caused by the carbs,and go off on the wrong footing. You have clearly sorted the carb,so don't waste any more time on it. only takes a few mins to check the resistances of the coil. Plenty of U- tube stuff out there to show you how.